The Origin of the Sorting Hat
by Katsy17
Summary: What is the Origin of the Sorting Hat? Where did the idea come from and what else is it capable of? Edited 8/2/13


Edit – 6/2/13

Edit – 8/2/13 – Some spelling hand grammar as been fixed.

Hello. I have written this for a HPFC known as the Sorting Hat Competition!

Not Beta-end, so sorry for any mistakes I make. Please let me know about anything I missed so I can fix it. Hopefully this flows a bit better.

Summary:

What is the Origin of the Sorting Hat? Where did the idea come from and what else is it capable of?

The Origin of the Sorting Hat

Over the years many of the students and staff at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry have wondered how the Sorting Hat came to be. Some speculate that the Hat came to life after it endured one too many fights from the founders about who would get which student. Some believe that the Sorting Hat was a gift from Merlin to the founders when the school first opened and then some, mostly pure-bloods, recon the Sorting Hat used to be a human. Some poor sod that had angered Godric Gryffindor and was cursed to live forever as a hat, sorting students at the command of the bravest founder. However none of these ideas are true.

The origin of the Sorting Hat was much simpler and at the same time more complicated. It all started with an argument. Like so many others at Hogwarts it involved the two male founders. This particular argument was about the sorting of the new students. Every year more and more young magical children started their education at Hogwarts and it was taking longer and longer to sort them into houses. The year the Sorting Hat came to be was the fifth year that Hogwarts had been open and the largest intake of students yet. Fifty five students would be starting that year. As the founders had done the previous years, they had a meeting to determine which house each student would be placed. Lady Ravenclaw only wanted the smartest and most dedicated to learning. Lord Slytherin wanted the most cunning and pure of blood. Lord Gryffindor would only have the bravest and boldest students while Lady Hufflepuff was happy to take the rest, the kind, the loyal and the trustworthy.

What had started this particular argument was that Lord Slytherin refused to help adjust the muggleborns. They went through this every year. Lord Slytherin would refuse to take muggleborns into his house and Lord Gryffindor would try and force him too. Lady Ravenclaw did not care about the blood of a student, just their willingness to learn and Lady Hufflepuff was trying to keep the peace. The four founders may have been the best of friends but it did not stop them from fighting like enemies at times. With the sorting of the students taking longer and longer, they needed to come up with a way that would make the process faster and more accurate. So far, none of them had come up with a workable idea.

It was the Lady Hufflepuff that came up with the idea of the Sorting Hat. She had spent the last hour or so trying to get the lords to stop yelling at each other, nothing had worked. In a huff she had sat down on one of the chairs around the table and jumped up again when she had accidentally sat on Lord Gryffindor's hat. She gently placed the now crumpled hat on the table and sat down again. Glancing around the room she noticed that none of the other founders had noticed. Especially Lord Gryffindor, as it was his favourite hat she had just sat on. Sighing in annoyance at the arguing pair, she wished there was a way they could look into each students mind and determine where they belonged in a matter of moments. Without having to use Legilimency, personality quizzes and family history.

That was when the idea struck her. Staring at the brown crumpled hat, with a tear in the brim that Lord Gryffindor refused to mend, an idea sparked to life. Why not have this hat, sort the students? It would take some time and energy but with just the right spells they could enchant the hat to do the hard work for them.

Lady Hufflepuff stood quickly from her chair causing it to topple over and cried out "I have it!" At this exclamation the other three people in the room turned to look at her. Startled at the sudden interruption it was Lord Gryffindor that responded first. "Got what Helga?" Then he noticed his hat and continued on with, "And what have you done with my HAT?"

"Never mind what has happened to your hat Godric. I have thought of a way to sort the students."

"Well what is it then." demanded Lord Slytherin, "What idea have you come up with?"

"A Sorting Hat! A-"

"A Sorting Hat? That sounds just as bad as all our other ideas" cut in Lord Gryffindor.

After a moment of silence while the others thought it over, Lady Ravenclaw added her thoughts, "Maybe this could work. Just what have you in mind Helga?"

"After I sat on Godric's hat an idea came to me-" "So you did sit on it!" exclaimed Lord Gryffindor just before Lady Ravenclaw elbowed him in the ribs to keep him quite.

"- As I was saying, an idea came to me. Why don't we enchant Godric's hat to sort the students for us."

"And just how do we do that?" asked Lord Slytherin, ignoring Lord Gryffindor's protests at the use of his hat. "We would need to not only make the hat sentient but able to talk as well! How could we possible do that?"

"It is a relatively simply processes but it would require a lot of magic and preparation. Nothing could go wrong or it could blow up in our faces..." said Lady Ravenclaw.

"Blow up my HAT! No! We are not doing this. There must be some other way. Something else we can use." cried Lord Gryffindor.

"There is not enough time to find something else. If we want to succeed by the start of term, we need to use your hat and you are going to help up, so we don't blow it up." stated the Lady Ravenclaw.

Lord Gryffindor still looked put out but agreed none the less. The founders then spent many hours preparing to enchant the hat. First they had to decide on what they wanted the hat to do. Did they want it to only sort the students? Did they want it to say a few words or sing a song about the different houses? Was the hat to be able to move on its own or even have a pair of wings to help it move? Many other things were talked about but they finally came to an agreement.

The Hat would not to be able to move or have any wings. They were not going to change the colour or size. It was certainly not going too used to kick out muggleborn's. The hat was going be able to skim the surface of a person's mind to determine what house they were to be placed in. It would be able to talk to the wearer and it was to sing a song before every sorting about the different houses and the school. The singing was heavily protested by Lord Slytherin who thought that the singing was a horrid idea, but he had been out voted by the other founders.

With the details sorted the founders rested for a day before they enchanted the hat, so that they were at their highest magical levels. They placed the old brown hat in a circle of white candles and stood at the four points, north, south, east and west before they started on the spells whey were going to use. It took them many hours but the Sorting Hat was complete. Just in time too as the new school year would be starting in just two days.

The Sorting hat needed to be tested before it could be used on the students just in case something didn't go quite to plan. Each founder tried on the Hat and was surprised at how well it worked. They asked some of the other professors to try on the Hat. Many were reluctant but tired it all the same. The Hat did a wonderful job of being able to sort the teachers into houses. It had been a surprise when Lord Gryffindor had first placed the Hat on Master Hooper's head and after a few moments the tear in the brim opened and then a loud voice shouted out that Master Hooper was a Hufflepuff. This happened every time someone tried on the Hat, that wasn't a founder. It shouted out their destined house for everyone to hear but it didn't shout out the personal information it got from reading the minds and talks it had with the different wearers.

The Sorting Hat was a great success. When it was time to sort the new students it sang a friendly song from its perch on a three legged stool. It sang about the four great houses of Hogwarts and how it would sort the students. Each new student tried on the Hat in alphabetical order and was sorted into the correct house for them. The returning students were amazed and even managed to convince the Great Hogwarts Four to re-sort them all using the Hat. Lord Slytherin had protested the most but was convinced when he saw the results and new members of his house. They were powerful and cunning, just how he wanted them. That was how the Sorting Hat stayed for a few years. When not in use it was kept in Lord Gryffindor office, sleeping on a shelf behind his desk.

It was only after Lord Slytherin left the school after a ferocious fight with Lord Gryffindor that the Sorting Hat was changed. It was changed only twice.

The first time was only days after Lord Slytherin left. The remaining three founders added an enchantment to the Hat. The enchantment gave the Hat the ability to sense great danger to the school and it would also be able to advise the staff and students with its song.

The second and last time it was changed was by Lord Gryffindor. He did not tell the other two founders that he had changed it. He had added an enchantment that would remain a mystery until it was needed.

The Sorting Hat to this day has been used by every headmaster and headmistress to sort the new students as well as help protect the school.

Well there we have it! I hope you liked reading it as much as I liked writing it.

Untill next time, Katsy.


End file.
